1) Where and what to read before I can buy? How much time before my first purchase?
2) What do I buy? How much to start with?
3) Where do I buy it from - registrars?
4) Appraisal of what I buy?
5) Where do I sell it?
6) Inbound/Outbound?
7) Should I make a portfolio?
8) How to negotiate?
9) Got a sale. Paypal/Escrow?
10) What to do with the earnings?
1. I think most domainers "buy" first, then start to realize they don't know what they are doing or wonder why all the domains they've registered aren't selling. I've written a book, which will help those who want to read and understand before they get too far into this business.
2. I think you start with what you can afford. Registering a new domain name at $12 or so can get you started ... but too many think they can quickly re-sell it and make a lot of money. Most hold onto domains for many years, so its an investment. Once you understand more about the business, many believe it is better to invest in higher quality domains at what you think is a bargain for that name on the secondary market. For instance, if you buy a name for $500 and are able to re-sell it in a year or two for $5,000, that's a great investment. You have a better chance of doing that then registering a new name and selling it for a profit.
3. First, you don't "buy" a domain, you register it's use. Many here don't like GoDaddy, but it's what I use almost exclusively to make it easier to sell ... and it's linked to Afternic, through which I've also made a lot of sales. If you start to assemble a large portfolio, you can join their domain club and save on registrations and renewals.
4. There are no good appraisals - only what you think a domain is worth based on your own research. There are, however, some good sites like NameBio where you can see what has sold in similar names, extensions, etc.
5. Where to sell depends on the name and what you are looking to make. The best sales can be made by putting your names on sites like Afternic, Sedo and/or Dan with a price you would like to make (as a Buy Now) and if somebody searching for your name wants it, they can easily buy it. If you want to take a more proactive path, then you are looking to outbound market the domain, which takes research and experience to do well.
6. See #5.
7. I keep a portfolio on an Excel spreadsheet - lists when I bought each domain, what I paid for it, renewals, where I have them listed at what price, etc. This also allows me to quickly sum up my sales and expenses at the end of each year for tax purposes. I do not put my entire portfolio on a site like Dan, but I do run my own business website where many of my domains forward - so if somebody directly types in the name in a browser it goes to my website ... where they can contact me and make an offer. When I sell through my own website, I can avoid the 15%-20% fee (+/-) charged by GoDaddy, Afternic, Sedo ,etc.
8. Negotiation takes experience. That's something you just have to learn.
9. I only use Paypal here on NamePros - never anywhere else. Always use escrow ... worth the extra $ ... unless you are buying or selling a name that is under their minimum requirement.
10. I use a 50% rule - I reinvest half of each sale, and transfer the rest to my personal account as profit. Tough to do when you are just starting, of course.
Hope you enjoy these quick answers to your 10 "levers" ... I expand on most of these in my book, but always able to help out when I can. Good luck!